


But Love & God Built Promises

by saucekays



Category: Boruto: Naruto Next Generations, Naruto
Genre: Afterlife, Alternate Universe, Angst, Character Death, Domestic Fluff, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Sex, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, M/M, Memories, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Not Canon Compliant, Smut
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-30
Updated: 2020-12-30
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:34:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,190
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28423254
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saucekays/pseuds/saucekays
Summary: After spending the recent years of their lives apart, Naruto and Sasuke die within a few moments of each other. They meet again in the afterlife, where they have until the end of time to work out their feelings for each other and how to live together.AKA Naruto and Sasuke live their dream life after they die and nothing can get in their way. Set somewhere vaguely during Boruto-era, not canon-compliant. Character death portrayed at the very beginning, but because of the nature of the story it feels more temporary than anything.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke/Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 20
Kudos: 123





	But Love & God Built Promises

**Author's Note:**

> I had an idea for a quick one-shot of Naruto and Sasuke talking things over in the afterlife based on recent developments in the Boruto manga, my rereading of the Naruto manga, my rewatching of the second Final Valley fight, and my own late-night thoughts about death and religion. Here's the result, please enjoy!

By the time the smoke had cleared; by the time Naruto had forced himself to his feet, shaken his head in an attempt to clear it, and blinked tears of ash and dust out of his eyes, it was too late. Sasuke was already dying. 

There he was, laying on unforgiving stone earth, his hair spread about his head like a shadowy halo. The blood had drained from his face, leaving him much paler than even he ought to be, and it was leaving his body behind: trailing from the corner of his mouth, running down his face in a Sharingan-induced tear trail and, most notably and terribly of all, spilling from a deep gash in his stomach, pooling around him in a morbid symbol of his imminent fate. 

Of course Naruto rushed to Sasuke’s side as soon as he took in the sight, forgetting to blink or breathe or defend himself from the battle raging around them; of course he sank to his knees with tears of anguish already pooling in his eyes, and of course he choked out Sasuke’s name past the dust in his ravaged throat, repeating it again and again until it was coming out as a ragged scream.

“Goodbye, Naruto,” was all Sasuke could manage to murmur until the light drained from his eyes, and his voice held so little strength that Naruto wasn’t even able to hear it over the roar of battle around them, and he cursed the entire world for not allowing him to hear Sasuke’s voice one last time.

“I didn’t get to tell him anything before he left,” Naruto whispered fiercely, eyes still spilling over with tears, “I had so much I had to tell him. Even in my nightmares, I got the chance to say more--” 

During the next few moments, all Naruto could do was lie bent over Sasuke's body, taking in breath after poisonous breath. 

Eventually, his shaking hands stilled and he drew back slightly, looking around with newfound purpose. Suddenly, he knew he no longer owed the world _anything._

He looked back down at Sasuke, whispering a message of his own. 

“See you soon. Don’t get too far ahead of me, you bastard.”

Then he stood up with a grim smile, knowing what was to come. He had already entered his most powerful chakra mode at the beginning of this battle: that which, unbeknownst to everyone except himself and Kurama, was nothing less than a death sentence, burning power taking an irreversible toll on his body. 

He rose up into the sky, then crashed back down to earth, taking half of the enemy forces with him in this single impact. 

It wasn’t hard for him to turn his rage outwards; he had always hated his life, and himself, and his enemies, and his friends, and-- everything except Sasuke, really, now that he thought about it. Sasuke had been all that kept him from destroying everything much earlier on, but the world had kept them apart in life and now it was taking Sasuke even further away from him through death. He was going to be condemned to a life without love, without light, without hope, without the manifestation of everything he had ever been able to force himself to care about. As if he hadn’t spent his childhood in devastating pain and guilt; his youth in heartache and sorrow; his adulthood in lies already. 

He wouldn’t live to bury Sasuke, but at the very least he could give him a sendoff in a blaze of glory. 

The power within him scorched his veins, it hurt more than any wound he had ever suffered and he wondered that he was even able to stay conscious throughout it, but it was dwarfed next to the gaping hell which had opened in his soul the moment Sasuke’s eyes had closed for the last time, so he grit his teeth and bore it and knew that it would all be over soon. 

And when his life was consumed by fire and pain, Naruto couldn’t bring himself to regret anything, except perhaps things which had happened so very long ago. 

His last thought before everything went dark was an echo of what he had told Sasuke’s body only moments before: _wait for me._

  
  


***

  
  


Eventually, Naruto opened his eyes. It felt strange: he didn’t necessarily remember closing them, and yet he must have. All around him there was bright light, and yet he couldn’t detect a source. There was simply a long, white hallway stretching out before him as far as he could see.

 _Am I really dead?_ he wondered, staring up at the white ceiling. 

Naruto had never been one to leave options unexplored, so after a few moments, he stood up and began to walk down the hallway. 

As he stood up he prepared for the wave of pain he was sure would hit him, and yet it didn’t come. This prompted him to inspect his body, and he was moderately surprised to find that there was no trace of the wounds he had sustained during the battle, let alone the devastating damage his body would have accumulated as he blazed towards his death. 

His right arm was still a prosthetic, neatly bandaged as always, and he stared at his own hand for a moment as he tried to recall its significance. Didn’t it have something to do with why he was here? 

_That’s right, because this arm wasn’t always missing, I lost it when I was seventeen, I lost it during a battle, I was fighting--_

“Sasuke,” Naruto whispered, and then he began to hurry down the hallway at a faster pace. 

He didn’t run or begin to pant: something about the hallway slowed the flow of his adrenaline so that although he was fueled by his newfound purpose of searching for Sasuke, his body also subconsciously realized that there was no need to hurry. 

_I want him to wait for me._

This thought is what Naruto kept in mind as he continued forwards, and it seemed to satisfy his mind because the next thing he knew he was standing before a door.

It was simple: made of wooden panels, with a slightly worn door handle, and a peephole in the top half. It could just as easily have been the front door of Naruto’s childhood apartment as that of any other older building he had ever seen.

As Naruto stared at it harder, a knocker appeared: Naruto reached forward slowly but without hesitation, lifted it, and let it fall on the surface beneath three times. 

Silence. 

Then footsteps-- footsteps that Naruto would recognize anywhere even, apparently, somewhere out of the world of the living. 

Then more silence. 

Then the sound of the door unlocking, the handle being pulled, the hinges pivoting in the frame. 

Finally Sasuke’s voice. 

“Naruto,” he said.

It wasn’t quite a question, and so Naruto didn’t respond right away.

Instead, he tilted his head slightly upwards in order to inspect the one who was speaking to him. 

There was no mistaking that this was Sasuke, although he seemed slightly different somehow. Just as Naruto now was, he appeared unhurt except for the empty sleeve which was hanging by his left side. He was dressed in something simple, yet more relaxed than the travel gear he had been confined to in recent years: dark pants and a white long-sleeved shirt which fell loosely across his chest. He was barefoot and his long hair was pushed back, exposing the Rinnegan which Naruto had so rarely seen since its acquisition. 

He looked ethereal in a way, and for a moment Naruto was afraid to speak to him; afraid he’d disappear just as he would in a dream. 

But then he shifted slightly, giving Naruto a harder look as he continued to hold the door open, and something about his impatience felt so familiar that all doubt flew away from Naruto and he gave Sasuke a wide grin. 

“So you did wait for me, you bastard.”

Sasuke tilted his head slightly, the expression on his face lingering on the border between exasperation and amusement in such a way which had only ever been reserved for Naruto’s own antics, then nodded. 

“I did,” he replied slowly, before frowning. “But you’re here sooner than I was expecting,” he said. “I haven’t been here long, have I?”

Something struck inside Naruto at the realization of how much concern Sasuke held for him, and he met Sasuke’s gaze unflinchingly. “It hasn’t been,” he admitted, words honest and true. “I died around ten minutes after you did.”

Sasuke’s nostrils flared at this revelation, and he stared at Naruto hard, questions evident in his eyes. 

There were too many there for Naruto to answer right away, and so he smiled and said opted for a simpler truth. “I missed you,” he said softly.

Sasuke’s mouth curved in a smile, mocking him slightly, but there was something much rawer in his eyes. “What, after ten minutes apart?”

“Of course,” Naruto said, his heart only swelling with further feeling, and he felt a sudden urge to tell Sasuke so much more.

Sasuke immediately picked up on his unspoken wishes and held the door open further. 

Naruto gratefully accepted the invitation and stepped forward into the house. It was less bright inside than out there, but still equally quiet and calming in an otherworldly way, despite the space appearing as generic as the front door had, with a warm wooden floor and simple furnishings. He bent down and took off his shoes, then glanced back at Sasuke, who was still standing by the door and watching him with eyes full of a lifetime of feeling. 

“Welcome home,” Sasuke said softly, and Naruto nodded before following the other man down the hall, further into the house.

“Let’s get you into some more comfortable clothes,” Sasuke said, “You must be tired after walking that far.”

Naruto was about to protest that _no, he wasn’t,_ but Sasuke gave him a sideways look and a reminder. “We have time,” he said simply, and hearing this Naruto no longer tried to argue, anxiety melting away as quickly as it had come over him. 

The hallway led them to a small dressing-room, with two closets and a mirror. Sasuke opened one of them and chose a pair of pants similar to his own, albeit with a slightly wider fit. He also pulled out a white tee and a pale orange sweatshirt, reminding Naruto of clothes he had worn in the past while simultaneously matching with their surroundings somehow. 

Sasuke handed him the clothes, and then surveyed him thoughtfully. “Do you want to have a bath first?” he asked. 

Naruto snorted. “Are you calling me dirty?” he said, “Besides, there’s not even a bath…” He trailed off as he suddenly caught sight of a door on the left side of the room, which he swore hadn’t been there before.

“Sasuke?” he asked, a feeling closer to fear than he had felt since arriving here beginning to settle over him. “What is this place? What can it do?”

Sasuke hesitated momentarily but gave him a reassuring look. “It’s best not to wonder too much, especially after just arriving here after such a long journey,” he said. “The most important thing to realize is that wherever you need to go, you will get there eventually.”

Naruto was struck by how knowledgeable Sasuke sounded, and looked at him strangely. “Weren’t you only here for ten minutes before I was?” 

Sasuke sighed slightly and began to usher him into the bathroom, seemingly still anxious for him. “Remember, I told you we have time here,” he said, “That means I had time, too.”

Naruto wanted to ask more questions, but then he caught sight of the bath and was immediately distracted by his desire to soak in the hot water. His body, although it sported no obvious wounds, was aching for some reason, and there was weariness seeping deep into his bones. 

Sasuke helped him unzip his jacket and pull his shirt over his head, and put his clothes in a hamper standing in the corner. Soon, Naruto was fully naked in front of him, and although part of him was saying that he should probably feel something about this situation (he hadn’t been naked in front of Sasuke since they were kids, after all), at this point he was much too tired to chase after that notion. 

So he settled for stepping into the bath and sinking into the water. 

He nearly groaned in relief at the initial sensation: the heat seared at his muscles, relaxing them, and his skeleton suddenly felt much less heavy. 

For a few moments, he could only sit there with his eyes closed, but eventually he began to consider the possibility of washing his hair. However, before he could commit to doing this, he heard the sound of the shampoo bottle opening beside him and then felt the sensation of hands running across his scalp.

He opened his bleary eyes slightly and turned, knowing it would be Sasuke who was washing his hair but still finding himself surprised at the sight. 

Sasuke looked right back at him, pursing his lips. “Don’t move your head,” he said, “I’ll get shampoo in your eyes.” 

“Okay,” Naruto smirked, and faced forward. For some reason, the idea of Sasuke washing his hair was amusing him. But however surreal it might seem, the long fingers on his scalp also felt very present, and soon all he could focus on was that sensation. 

What felt like a few moments later, he was lightly shaken awake by Sasuke. “I fell asleep?” he asked, surprised. 

Sasuke just chuckled lightly. “It’s alright, I made sure you didn’t drown.” 

Naruto got out of the tub, and Sasuke offered him the clothes he had picked for him in the previous room. He pulled them on slowly, aiming a jab at Sasuke as he did. 

“You idiot, I can’t drown. I’m already dead, aren’t I?”

Naruto expected a barb in return, one of those sarcastic comments Sasuke specialized in, but there was no response. Naruto looked up after pulling on his pants. 

When he met Sasuke’s eyes, he was shocked at the level of guilt that filled them, radiating from black and violet eyes in equal measure.

“What?” he asked, a little hesitant, because after all these years Sasuke was still unpredictable sometimes. 

“It’s my fault you’re dead,” he said simply, continuing to stare at Naruto through guilt-ridden eyes, and Naruto suddenly understood Sasuke’s relative gentleness a little more. “I died too soon to protect you.” 

Naruto stood up straighter and walked over to his once-companion. “Sasuke,” he breathed, “Don’t say anything like that. I _chose_ to be here.” 

But the hurt in Sasuke’s mismatched eyes only seemed to deepen, and he shook his head ever so slightly. “You _chose?_ Naruto… Don’t tell me…”

Naruto drew back ever so slightly, a half-smile on his face, hoping Sasuke’s expression would follow. “Come on bastard, don’t be so self-centered as to think I came here just for you. I wiped out the whole invasion before I went, you know? So the Village is safe.” He sighed. “I went out in a blaze of glory, just like a Hokage is supposed to.”

“I never thought you should be Hokage,” Sasuke muttered bitterly, not meeting Naruto’s eyes anymore, and Naruto laughed. 

“Come on, bastard, we already fought about that one more than ten years ago. Blew each other’s arms off over it, remember?”  
  
Sasuke’s gaze moved back to meet his, and this time some of the guilt had regressed and reluctant mirth had come to replace it. “You still have another arm,” he mumbled, and Naruto laughed for real this time. 

He still had lingering worries concerning the depth of true guilt he had seen in Sasuke, but then he remembered the statement Sasuke himself kept on repeating: that they had time. _We can talk about it some other time, when he wants to,_ Naruto told himself, and he followed Sasuke out of the bathroom, now wearing the new clothing. 

“Are you hungry?” Sasuke asked as they walked down the hallway, nothing in particular standing out as they continued to talk. 

“I’m more tired,” Naruto said, a well-timed yawn making its way up his throat in order to support his statement, and Sasuke nodded in amusement. “Let’s rest, then,” he said, and a few steps later he stopped in front of a door which either suddenly appeared to their right, or had been there all along without Naruto noticing. 

The space within was a medium-sized bedroom, with low, curtained windows, a plush carpet, and a low double bed. 

“Is it alright if we share?” Sasuke asked quietly, something almost intimate in his voice, and Naruto was slightly taken aback but more happy than anything else. So he nodded, and then he and Sasuke were getting into bed next to each other, and draping a soft blanket over their two frames.

They were lying facing each other, and for a few moments Naruto simply looked at Sasuke: his dark eyes, his sharp brow, his soft hair, and that face he had missed so much, not just earlier today but also throughout what felt like the entirety of his life. 

Then that beautiful face became ever so slightly marred with concern, and Sasuke reached out a hand to gently touch Naruto’s cheek. 

“Why are you crying, Naruto?” he asked, and only then did Naruto become aware that he was in fact shedding tears. 

Naruto rolled over onto his back, laying an arm across his eyes in an attempt to hide the sudden lapse of control. “Sorry,” he muttered, voice grating with the effort of steadying it, “I just...” 

“Naruto,” --Sasuke’s voice was closer now-- “Look at me.”

Naruto, whether he’d admit it or not, had never really been able to disobey Sasuke when it came to things like this and so he looked up and met Sasuke’s eyes, feeling small and ashamed. 

But Sasuke wasn’t looking at him with any of the things Naruto was afraid to see-- mockery, confusion, pity. Instead, he looked calm and understanding and something warmer still… 

“You can tell me what it is,” he said, and although it wasn’t a command this time Naruto still wanted to obey him. 

“I just missed you so much,” he began, voice shaking more as he continued to speak, “And earlier, or, I don’t know, maybe it was a while ago, when you… You were gone so fast, and I didn’t even get to say goodbye or anything, and I always knew something like that would happen, and it was always the thing I was most afraid of, and…” 

He had begun to cry in earnest by the time he trailed off, finally processing the exhaustion and confusion of losing his life and ending up here, as well as the extent of the fears he still felt pertaining to Sasuke himself. “I just missed you so much, I really did, and I want to believe that we do have time now, like you were saying, but I don’t understand this place, and I…”

His words didn’t trail off this time but cut off abruptly at the warmth which suddenly surrounded him from all sides. He opened his eyes slowly and realized Sasuke had pulled him into his chest. 

“Is this alright?” Sasuke murmured into his hair and Naruto just nodded, more tears already leaking out and smearing Sasuke’s chest. 

“It’s alright now,” Sasuke whispered from above him, “We really do have time, I promise. After all these years, we do.” 

Naruto tried to stop crying, but the warmth and need filling his chest was overwhelming, and all he could do in that moment was bury his head deeper into Sasuke’s shoulder. 

_I’ve wanted to hold him like this for almost as long as I can remember._

“You can cry,” Sasuke reassured him, “There’s time for that, too.” 

At that, Naruto finally wrapped his arms around Sasuke in return, nestling closer to him, pure relief crashing over him as he heard Sasuke’s heartbeat and felt his warm skin and wrapped his arms around his frame. These feelings were so strong that the tears only continued to fall, but after hearing Sasuke’s words he was finally able to let go of his shame. 

And so Naruto let himself be held by Sasuke as he sobbed into his chest. 

  
  


***

When Naruto woke up, light was streaming into the room through a crack in the curtains and his entire body felt rested to a point he hadn’t felt in years. It was almost nostalgic, or at least what he thought nostalgia should feel like: the comfort of waking up in the morning as a child, with nothing looming on the horizon and with warmth all around you. 

Then he turned and saw the unmade bed beside him, and a jolt shot through him at the memory of last night-- Sasuke laying across from him, wrapping his arms around him, telling him that it would be alright, and… 

Naruto frowned in disbelief and shook his head. His memory felt surreal-- sure, he was dead now, but how did that warrant such intimacy between him and Sasuke when they had been so distant from each other during the last several years of their lives? Since Sasuke had left Konoha again, their meaningful conversations had been few and far between, perhaps because they both sensed the danger which lay down that road, the idea that once they had closed the invisible gap in between them nothing else would feel real anymore and they wouldn’t be able to live apart from each other anymore. And the last time they had exchanged prolonged, non-combative physical contact must have happened so long ago that Naruto couldn’t even really remember it. Besides, even if they had touched each other in such a way, it wouldn’t have been like _that_. He and Sasuke of the past never could have reached that level of intimacy without backing down, or getting in a fight, or making up any possible excuse to avoid that thing they both knew lay between them. 

_Still,_ Naruto mused, _it’s weird_ . No matter how much he may have wanted to, he couldn’t imagine initiating any of the moments of closeness they had shared the day before. And Sasuke had, if anything, always been even more reluctant to share moments like these than him. So why had he acted so… _caring_ yesterday? 

_Where even is he, anyway?_

Naruto sat up and dragged his legs over the side of the bed, looking around to spot clothes for him to wear. There was an outfit folded on the chair, soft clothing similar to what Sasuke had picked out for him yesterday, so Naruto stood up quietly and pulled it on. He checked his hair in a mirror in the corner which he hadn’t seen last night-- _seriously, is my mind playing tricks on me?_ and headed out of the room. 

Once he opened the door, he was faced once again with the strange hallway of the house, furnished just enough to appear like a home but not enough to feel familiar. He looked right and then left, wondering where Sasuke could be. 

He spotted a door in one of the walls only a few feet away and padded towards it, opening the door after only a moment of hesitation. 

The room inside looked like some sort of living space: there was a low table with cushions on the floor beside it, a television on the wall, and a large window with translucent curtains drawn across it. 

Then Naruto heard a sound to his right: when he looked in the other direction, he saw a small kitchen area. Sasuke was there, getting two mugs out of the cupboard: he then turned to face Naruto, looking not at all surprised to see him there. 

“Good morning,” he said calmly. 

Naruto gaped slightly-- Sasuke’s behavior last night hadn’t been a wishful dream, after all? 

“Hi,” he replied, absent-mindedly, then blurted out a more pressing thought which crossed his mind. “Sasuke, is this actually you?” 

Sasuke looked mildly surprised, then he picked up the two mugs and began to walk towards Naruto. “I suppose I didn’t really explain anything yesterday,” he acknowledged, before nodding towards the table. “Come on.”

Naruto followed him and sat down on one of the cushions. Sasuke lifted up a teapot which was on the table and poured the drink for both of them. 

“I didn’t know you drank tea like this,” Naruto said, gesturing towards the traditional-style tea set, because he had too many questions to ask any of them just yet. 

Sasuke made eye contact with him briefly before he resumed pouring. “My mother taught me,” he said. 

Again, Naruto was surprised. _Sasuke, willingly mentioning his past?_ This had to be a dream, right? Or some weird afterlife scenario he had thought up. Either that or something really weird had happened to Sasuke in the ten minutes before he had gotten here. 

Besides, seeing Sasuke was embarrassing Naruto to a certain extent-- every time he caught Sasuke’s eyes he remembered the other man’s comforting words from the night before, and every time he watched those hands now occupied with preparing their tea he remembered the way they had held his shaking body. 

Naruto squirmed in his seat. 

Sasuke asked a question before Naruto could pick one of his own, however. “What do you know about this place?” he asked, sliding Naruto’s teacup over to his side of the table. 

Naruto frowned for a moment, considering. “Well, stuff keeps appearing whenever I need it to, and I can’t tell where the hallway leads, and the bathwater is really warm, and the clothes are comfortable…” He continued, more quietly. “And it looks like it’s just us two here. And… this _is_ the afterlife, right? Or… something.” 

Sasuke nodded, watching him with thoughtful eyes as he took a sip of his tea. “So it does look the same to both of us, then.” 

Naruto frowned. “You thought it might look different to each of us? Even though we’re both here?” 

“Hm,” Sasuke agreed. “Like you said, this space seems to be able to become what we need it to be, to an extent… so it would make sense if it was different for everyone. But it doesn’t seem like that’s happening.” 

“Ohh,” Naruto said suddenly, his eyes lighting up, “Let’s test it out.” 

He stood up and looked around the room, thinking hard. “I wish there was a big bowl of ramen in front of me!” 

He stared hard at the table, but nothing happened. 

Sasuke looked up from his mug again to speak up dryly. “There’s ramen in the kitchen, Naruto,” he said.

Naruto rounded on him, looking surprised. “What? But I didn’t see any!” 

“That’s probably because you weren’t looking for it.”

Naruto scratched his head. “Wait, so you’re saying I can’t make anything appear out of thin air, but things will be there when I need them to be?” 

“That’s one way to put it,” Sasuke said as Naruto sat down again. “Though as far as I know, our needs aren’t the same here as they were when we were alive.” 

“You mean we don’t need to eat?” 

“Or sleep, in my experience,” Sasuke said. “But you can if you want to.”

“Huh,” Naruto mused. “The afterlife is weird. How did you even figure all of this out in ten minutes, bastard?” 

Sasuke took a moment to answer him, frowning into his tea for a moment first. “It didn’t exactly feel like ten minutes to me,” he said finally. 

“You kinda mentioned that…” Naruto said. “Time’s not really a thing here, right? That’s why the lighting outside always looks the same. But you’re saying you were here for a long time before I got here?” 

“It felt like it,” Sasuke corrected him quietly. He wasn’t looking at Naruto anymore. “I had time to think, I suppose you could say.” 

Naruto set down his mug, watching Sasuke more carefully now. “Think? About what?” 

His question was followed by Sasuke’s longest pause so far, and he only spoke up just when Naruto had started to wonder whether he had heard him or not. “About the life I lived,” he said in the end, “And about the people in it.”

“Didn’t you have a lot of time to do that after you left?” Naruto asked suddenly, swallowing the _again_ at the end of the question but failing to disguise its implication. 

Sasuke gave him a piercing look, mismatched eyes boring into his with sudden intensity. “There were some things I avoided thinking about when I was alive,” he said, and then his voice dropped. “You know what I mean, don’t you, Naruto?” 

Naruto froze then, because hadn’t he been asking himself a very similar question just a little while earlier? So could it be that this Sasuke wasn’t a dream or a figment of his imagination, but actually…

“Sasuke,” he asked breathlessly, “Am I the only one here with you?” 

The other man was nodding before he even finished his question. “It’s only you, Naruto.” 

“But, but,” Naruto pressed on, needing the answers _now_ , “Other people, well, they’ve died, right? But they’re not here. It’s just us. Why is that? How do I know this isn’t just something I’m making up?”

“Naruto,” Sasuke’s voice cut through his rambling, strong but also comforting somehow. 

He paused. 

Sasuke placed both palms on the table. “Feel this space,” he said. “With your chakra,” he added when Naruto looked confused.

“We can use chakra h--” Naruto began to ask, answering his own question in the process as he reached out to make contact with the energies around them. 

It was certainly a strange space, the chakras feeling far different than they did on earth. The environment was emptier, but more all-encompassing at the same time; moldable, but old and powerful. And when Naruto examined the space further, reaching out and touching it all, he realized that there were two very familiar patterns surrounding everything else. 

“It’s our chakras, Sasuke,” he said, eyes still closed in concentration. “It’s like… It’s like _we_ created this space.” His eyes flew open, landing on the man across from him. “And if I can feel your chakra, that means…” 

Sasuke nodded, the beginnings of a smile on his lips. “I’m here, Naruto.” 

“And we were both supposed to be?” Naruto asked breathlessly. “We were supposed to meet each other again, even after our lives were over?” 

Sasuke didn’t answer Naruto’s question directly, but his next words were spoken with so much certainty that Naruto took them as such. “Before you arrived here,” he said quietly, “I was thinking about us. And I… came to regret how little we had seen each other… you know…” 

He trailed off lamely, rather uncharacteristic of him, but Naruto understood. They had lived separate lives during their last years for various reasons, but now… 

“I was a fool, Naruto,” Sasuke confessed suddenly; “A fool to think that I could avoid you, or leave you, or live without you. We’ve known for years, haven’t we? About… this.” 

“The bond,” Naruto said quietly, and suddenly he was overwhelmed by so much heart-wrenching memory that a tremor passed through his body. 

_Sasuke sacrificing himself for him. Sasuke leaving him that first time. The nights and nights he had spent in his teens crying himself to sleep over love lost. Their brief confrontations which always ended with his own tears. That even more fitful moment of clarity they had had at the Final Valley after Naruto had sacrificed life and limb to keep Sasuke from forcing himself into solitude, and where Sasuke had cried, and where they had shown each other their hearts for the last time, and…_

The flood was never-ending, and Naruto looked up with haunted eyes only to see the very same memories reflected in Sasuke’s face. 

“When I remembered these things,” Sasuke continued softly, “I reached out with my chakra, almost subconsciously, and that’s when I felt you. And I knew that sooner or later, you’d come here too.”

“So you waited for me?” Naruto asked, eyes wide and body leaning forward towards Sasuke as if he couldn’t handle the space between them anymore. 

“Of course I did,” Sasuke replied evenly, looking down at Naruto with an expression he had always wanted to see.

“But you were here all alone,” Naruto said, and then he was biting his lip, “For such a long time.”

“It wasn’t really long, remember time doesn’t really…” 

“I don’t care about that, bastard!” Naruto said, and for some reason there were tears springing into his eyes again. “I just feel bad that you were all alone.” 

Sasuke smiled gently and sorrowfully, hand twitching on the table as if he wanted to reach forward. “Naruto, you spent your whole life waiting for me,” he said, the regret in his voice as clear as day, “The least I could do was wait until the end of time.” 

Naruto made a small sound which was both angry and pained, then stood up and finally stomped around the table to drop to his knees next to Sasuke, who was still sitting on a cushion. “Don’t _say_ something like that,” he said, “Sasuke, I--” 

Sasuke turned to face Naruto, drawing himself upright so that he appeared just a little taller, and then Naruto was staring into two of the most vulnerable eyes he had ever seen. Their memories were there again, but there was also something else, something strong and undeniable and Naruto couldn’t quite think of what to call it… 

But Sasuke could. “Naruto,” he whispered, “I love you.”

_Oh, so that’s what it was._

“I’ve always loved you,” Naruto replied, because it was the truth, even if he hadn’t quite dared to phrase it that way before. “I’ve loved you for my whole life, and I love you now, too, and I--” 

His lip was quivering again, but it stopped when Sasuke bent down and captured it in a kiss. Naruto froze for a moment at the sensation, heart hammering against his ribs, but was soon lost in the sensation and pulled Sasuke closer by his waist as he kissed him back. 

_This is what was missing,_ Naruto knew suddenly, _this is how it was always supposed to be between us._

He pulled back slowly, not wanting to get too far away, and his eyes widened when he took a look at Sasuke’s face and realized the other man’s eyes were still closed, and that two tears had rolled out from under each eyelid. 

Naruto reached forward ever so gently, and Sasuke’s eyes fluttered open again when he wiped the tears away. 

“Sasuke,” he said, not too far from crying himself, and his heart swelled when dark, shining eyes met his once more, that beautiful and tear-stained face finally as close as he had always wished it would be. 

“I--” Sasuke cleared his throat slightly, trying to get his voice under control, “I”m sorry we didn’t live our lives together, Naruto.” 

“Oh, Sasuke,” Naruto replied, still caressing the pale face of the man he loved, “That was my fault too. I didn’t realize what it was really… But I also did, and it scared me, because…” 

“I know,” Sasuke whispered, “I know. I was scared too, and unsure, and I didn’t think that… that I of all people…” 

“Sasuke, neither did I,” Naruto interrupted, knowing self-loathing when he saw it and holding Sasuke tighter in an attempt to shield him from it. “But it’s okay now. We… You’re right that we didn’t live together.” 

The tears in his own eyes finally fell as he watched Sasuke, watched the man’s expression change as he uttered the words that meant so much to him. “But we died together, Sasuke. And now we can be with each other until the end of time.” 

Sasuke stared at him for a moment, awestruck, then pulled him in by his waist in order to kiss him again. Their kiss was soft and slow, but Naruto could feel every second of longing and every beat of their once-broken hearts present in the touch. He leaned forward, needing to be closer, and they ended up falling backward onto the cushioned floor. Naruto sighed in satisfaction when he felt the entirety of Sasuke’s body underneath his, the weight of their bodies pressed together giving him more of that contact he had felt before falling asleep yesterday and had craved for years before that.

They continued to hold each other in this way, kissing long and deeply, each shedding a few more tears of sheer relief, and Naruto found himself taking great comfort in the knowledge that they could stay like this for as long as they wanted to. 

  
  


***

“Sasuke,” Naruto asked what felt like a week later, although there was no way of knowing whether that was accurate. “Can we go anywhere else?” 

The other man turned his head to look at him. They were both lying on the living room carpet, simply basking in each others’ presence, when Naruto asked this. 

“What do you mean?” Sasuke asked, before smiling slightly. “Or should I say… What are you planning?” 

“I want to spar,” Naruto said. “We’ve been lying here for a while, haven’t we?”

“Hm,” Sasuke agreed thoughtfully, “I suppose we have.” 

“So can we?” 

“We can leave the house,” Sasuke affirmed, “I’m not aware of any limitations as to where we can go. Or _when,_ for that matter.” 

Naruto sat up slightly, eyes shining with interest. “When? You mean we can time travel?”

Sasuke rolled his eyes slightly. 

“Yeah, yeah, time’s not real,” Naruto waved him away. “You know what I mean, asshole. Anyway, you’re saying we could see anywhere at any time?” 

“It works better when you can picture it,” Sasuke said. “If it’s a time and place in your memory.” 

“Sure, whatever,” Naruto said, already standing up. “Let’s go!” He held out a hand to Sasuke, who took it and then was dragged along behind him and out the front door. 

Naruto blinked in surprise once they were outside. “The sun is here?” 

Sasuke gave him a sideways look. “What did you expect?” 

“It was completely blank when I got here. Just a long, white hallway. With our door at the end, just floating in the middle of nowhere.” 

“Hm,” Sasuke mused. 

“What did it look like for you, then?” Naruto asked. 

Sasuke’s eyes narrowed minisculely, and he began to walk ahead. Naruto hurried to stay beside him. 

“So it wasn’t just a blank hallway?” he asked. 

“...No, it wasn’t,” Sasuke admitted, still looking at the ground with a slight frown. 

“Well, what was it then?” Naruto asked. “Come on, we don’t have all of eternity…” He trailed off, before starting to giggle loudly at his own joke. 

Sasuke frowned directly at him this time, but there was also a hint of a smile on his lips. “You’re an idiot.” 

“I’m not wrong, though,” Naruto said, still giggling. Then he straightened up, looking marginally more serious. “OK, I do want to know though. You’re acting all mysterious."

“I…” Sasuke began, looking unsure of what to say. “I saw some of my own memories. This is why my time here before you arrived felt like longer than ten minutes. And… It’s also what helped me decide to…” 

“To acknowledge us,” Naruto breathed, now halting in his tracks and looking directly at Sasuke. “You lived through it all again?” 

“Hm,” Sasuke inclined his head, leaving no doubts. 

“I had been wondering” --Naruto’s voice was soft with care and awe-- “What was making you act like that.” 

“Like what?” Sasuke asked, something still creasing his brow as he looked away. 

“So honest,” Naruto said, “And so brave.” 

Sasuke smiled ruefully at that. “I hadn’t been very brave recently, had I?” 

“Sasuke,” Naruto began, but his once-rival was not finished.

“I ran away from you, Naruto. I was afraid. After what happened at the Valley, I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay with you without you finding out, and I didn’t…” 

“You can’t have seriously thought I would reject you,” Naruto interrupted. “Sasuke,” --he let out a sudden laugh, a sound bordering on anxious-- “I followed you to the ends of the earth, going against everyone else, for _years_ of my life.” 

“No,” Sasuke held up a hand to stop him. “It wasn’t that.” 

His eyes, more gentle suddenly, were back on Naruto’s. “I thought it likely you loved me, at least in some sense of the word. But I was afraid of what it would do to you… what it already had done to you. And I knew that your dream of becoming Hokage… I would have gotten in the way.” 

He watched Naruto intently as he spoke, waiting for the shorter man’s reaction. He looked torn-- understanding in part, almost heartbroken in another.

“You fucking asshole,” he whispered, hanging his head. “I can’t believe you thought that. But I… I can’t blame you, you know? Because I was just as stupid, in a way.” He looked back up at Sasuke, reaching for him. “I wasn’t even entirely sure what this feeling was. I knew it was so much stronger than anything I’d felt for anyone else, but I didn’t know what else to make of it, you know? All I knew was that it grew stronger whenever you were around, and if I kept seeing you I’d do something I couldn’t take back, and I didn’t even know whether-- whether you even felt stuff like that at all, and I knew I should probably be getting married to a girl because that’s kind of what the Hokage does, and…” 

  
“Naruto,” Sasuke said, watching his blue eyes snap up as his rambling trailed off. “I understand.” 

“No, wait, I don’t know if you do,” Naruto said, suddenly a little panicked. “Because, you see, maybe you’re right that we were both dumb when we were alive, but I think… I think I was going to act dumb once I was dead, too. I mean, if you hadn’t, you know…”

“You don’t know whether you would have confessed to me?” Sasuke asked softly. 

Naruto nodded, biting his lip. 

“Naruto,” Sasuke said again, quieter and more intensely this time, “It’s alright. I had already decided what to do before you arrived here. I took care of it.”

“What did you see?” Naruto asked, breath puffing close to Sasuke’s lips as he took a step forward. He seemed sad, a little desperate. “What did you see that was enough to acknowledge us?” 

Sasuke tilted his head downwards ever so slightly, to be able to look at Naruto more directly. “It’s simple. I saw my life without you.” 

Naruto smiled, still looking sad. Something was glistening in his eyes. “It hurt you too, didn’t it?” he asked. “Living without this.” 

“Every day,” Sasuke whispered in reply. Their foreheads were pressed together softly now, needing each other’s presence as memory closed in around them. 

“Did you cry?” Naruto asked, his eyes already wide with sympathy. 

“Sometimes,” Sasuke said, the admission feeling strange in his throat. “Although I always tried to pretend it was just the rain.” 

“I did most days,” Naruto laughed, but there was a choking note to it. “I thought of you before falling asleep every night, and I just… Yeah. I think that’s when I realized what I was feeling, too.” 

He pulled back slightly to examine his lover’s face. “When did you find out, anyway?” 

In response, Sasuke took Naruto’s hand firmly in his. “Come with me and see for yourself,” he said, a sudden determination filling him. 

“Huh?” Naruto said from behind him, allowing himself to be dragged along. 

They moved in this way for a while, Sasuke taking the lead. The scenery around them remained relatively amorphous: it resembled a forest path, one which seemed like it could be anywhere. Eventually, however, the trees dispersed and revealed a shining lake, blue under the wide sky. 

“This is…” Naruto trailed off, catching sight of a bridge at the end of the path. “The Land of Mist… the Great Naruto Bridge, isn’t it?” 

He turned to Sasuke, slightly confused. “It’s good to see it again, I always forget I have a bridge named after me. But why did you take us here?”

Sasuke shook his head, then pointed down towards the bridge. “Look.” 

Naruto followed his direction, then gasped slightly at the scene playing out a short distance away. 

What first caught his eye was a large structure, something round and glistening in the light, almost like--

“Ice,” Naruto said, his eyes glittering with recognition. “Haku. Sasuke, you mean…?” 

Sasuke nodded, eyes fixated on the scene below as he stoically ignored the slight blush dusting his cheekbones. 

“You knew for that long?” Naruto sounded astonished from beside him. 

“Hm,” Sasuke nodded. 

“I can’t believe it,” Naruto gaped. I didn’t know until, like… Way later.” 

“I always was smarter than you,” Sasuke jabbed, a smirk spreading across his face as Naruto’s expression morphed into one of mild outrage. 

“Hey, you bastard! Why does _this_ have to be a competition, too?” 

“I never said it was,” Sasuke replied smugly. 

“Yeah…” Naruto said, more thoughtful again as he looked back down towards the ice structure, where a young Sasuke had once been prepared to give up his life for him.

“Sasuke,” Naruto said softly, previous emotion returning to his voice again. “You knew so long ago? And you lived with it all this time?” 

“More or less,” Sasuke replied, trying to sound comforting. 

“How did you live like that for so long?” Naruto asked. “I couldn’t even admit what it _was,_ it hurt too badly.” 

“Well, I didn’t exactly do a great job at living with it, did I?” Sasuke remarked dryly. “I wasn’t exactly what you’d call stable for most of my life.”

Naruto glared at him. 

“Besides, I was near my limit, too. Experiencing it all a second time was enough to make me change the way I was acting, wasn’t it?” 

“I guess,” Naruto nodded, still looking far too sad. His voice broke just a little on his next words. “Sasuke, do you think we’ll ever be alright? I know it hurt both of us for so long, and…” 

“Oh, Naruto,” Sasuke said. “We’re alright now, aren’t we?” 

Naruto turned his head up towards him, eyes luminous and hopeful. 

“There’s nothing to hurt us anymore. We’re the only ones here, and we know how we feel.” 

Naruto was quiet for a moment, taking in his words. Then, he said: “I love you”. 

Sasuke was slightly taken aback. “I know you do,” he replied. 

“No, no, but I have to say it,” Naruto said seriously. “I spent too much time _not_ saying it before. I think we have a lot to make up for now.”

“Hm,” said Sasuke, slowly beginning to smile again. 

“I love your smile,” Naruto confessed, standing closer to him once again. “I love it so much, and I want to see it forever, I want to be the one who causes it to appear. And,” --he grabbed Sasuke’s hand-- “I love your hand. And I’m sorry one of them is gone because of me. And I love your eyes. You look so cool with the Rinnegan there, it’s mysterious, you know? And I--”

He froze when he made eye contact with Sasuke again, who was watching him with an expression of deep amusement and love. 

“Hey, don’t look at me like that!” Naruto said. He could feel himself blushing suddenly. Sasuke was so _close_ and he was beautiful, he always had been, and Naruto wasn’t entirely sure if he was able to handle this, and suddenly he just really, _really_ wanted to touch Sasuke.

“You want to go home?” Sasuke whispered, brushing over his knuckles and still watching him in that stupidly intense way. 

Naruto nodded, blushing furiously, and soon they had returned to the house.

Sasuke led him to the bedroom, and laid him down, and asked him softly whether this is what he wanted, and Naruto looked up at him and nodded with all the conviction in the world. 

Because the way he and Sasuke had been able to talk to each other recently, so honest and free, truly meant everything to him. But he and Sasuke had never been the best at words: their earliest memories of each other were grounded in the physical, in some dusty Academy training yard in Konoha, and their later memories even more so if anything. And Naruto realized as he lay there that part of the terrible distance which had come between them in the years before their deaths was the lack of physical contact specifically-- after all, even in those years of his youth during which he thought Sasuke might never return to him, he had been able to look forward to their battles, at least in some strange way. 

And so Naruto bared his neck for Sasuke to kiss down, and easily pulled his shirt over his head, and found himself blushing when Sasuke returned the gesture because he really _was_ beautiful, and seeing him undressed in this context was more than Naruto thought he might be able to take. 

He was grounded by a simple “Stay still” which was whispered from Sasuke’s soft lips; his intent returned, and he captured those same lips in one of those searing kisses he could never get enough of. 

And then, with Sasuke hovering over him, radiating heat and intent, Naruto looked straight into those dark eyes and spoke his mind. 

“I always wanted you to fuck me,” he whispered, and watched with glee as a flicker of shock passed over Sasuke’s otherwise stoic expression. 

His delight was abruptly turned to anticipation, however, when Sasuke narrowed his eyes and reached between them, pulling down Naruto’s pants. 

“Well isn’t that a coincidence,” he said darkly, “I have wanted to do this for longer than you want to know.” 

Naruto shivered at his words, and then again as he suddenly felt a finger probe his entrance. 

After a little --or perhaps a lot-- of foreplay and preparation, Sasuke entered him; when he bottomed out, Naruto’s eyes rolled back and he passed a hand over his brow in simple disbelief at how _good_ it felt. 

And as Sasuke began to move, he was unable to contain himself: he found himself blushing furiously at the moans which escaped him, such desperate sounds that he was sure it must seem like he had never been touched before. 

And maybe, in a sense, he hadn’t. Because maybe Sasuke was the only one who knew how to make him feel like _this._ He wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case. 

Naruto came twice that time, releasing between their bodies and relishing the sight of his cum on Sasuke’s stomach, something binding them together. Just as much, he shivered in delight at the feeling of Sasuke filling him up, wishing it would never go away. 

Afterwards Sasuke cleaned him up, wiping his stomach, softening cock, and aching hole with a warm cloth; then he gathered Naruto in his arms, where he could stroke the paler man’s chest for as long as he wanted, until his eyes finally fell shut in contented sleep. 

  
  


***

As time passed (or didn’t-- Naruto still wasn’t entirely sure how to put it), things became easier for the two of them. 

Living together was definitely strange at first: because they had never allowed themselves to imagine it properly, because they had never believed it would happen, because they were _dead_ for crying out loud, and even though they had some sort of explanation for how it had happened it was still _weird_. 

And strange because, in all honesty, neither of them had ever lived without the sensation of loneliness, and not only knowing there was someone who understood them but also _living_ with said person felt surreal. 

Naruto was the most disbelieving of the two, still needing more time to adjust: when he walked into the room and casually saw Sasuke eating, or reading, or taking a bath, he still struggled to believe it was real sometimes. 

Sasuke had fewer such qualms. 

“Something to say, usuratonkachi?” he would ask, one eyebrow raised, whenever Naruto started to stare at him again. And Naruto would blush and look away because despite knowing Sasuke’s face so well, there was something about him which made it hard to look directly at him sometimes, which of course just caused Sasuke’s eyebrow to raise higher. 

As they became more used to their surroundings, their space adapted to their needs and a home began to materialize around them. The hallway was no longer shimmering at the edges or causing random doors to appear, and Naruto didn’t have to think about which room he wanted to visit in order to get there. 

It was a medium-sized, traditionally-styled, one-story home, and it was perfect for them. 

Their routine was relatively loose, especially considering the facts that time didn’t truly pass in this place and that neither of them had mortal needs anymore. They spent most of their time in the living room; watching movies, or cuddling, or talking, or eating food that they cooked (which is to say, Sasuke cooked it and Naruto taste-tested it with much enthusiasm).

A lot of the rest was spent in the bedroom; they had multiple decades of fantasies to play out, after all. 

Of course, it wasn’t always easy: Naruto still tended to worry about the impermanence of their situation or get stuck in memories of the pain they had endured in the past. He would have nightmares and panic attacks sometimes, things which Sasuke had to learn how to care for him throughout, and they had many conversations about Naruto’s fears. 

Sasuke tended to suffer from bouts of isolation: it wasn’t always easy for him to remember that Naruto wanted him by his side and that all aspects of him were loved. He had been proud and aloof for so long, that it was hard to let that go. And when he did break down sometimes, it was poisonous and painful and he hated himself for letting Naruto see it. But his lover held him through it, and gave him his time alone when he needed it, and went to see Sasuke’s memories with him when he wanted to share parts of his life with Naruto but wasn’t quite able to put it into words. 

And so they lived together, in love and at home, in their little space long after their lives had ended. It wasn’t painless, and it wasn’t simple; nothing ever had been with them, after all. But after a life drawn together but forced apart, and years of nursing broken hearts, they were finally together. 

And they would be together always, forever, until the end of time.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, feedback is always very much appreciated! <3


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